This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that has inspired me to start writing this blog.

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Monday, 28 October 2013

Allsop must start believing and we must support him

For Eddie Howe it would probably be easy for him to think about bringing in another keeper to take Allsop out of the heat, but Ryan Allsop will not learn if he is taken out of the equation. While Eddie does not feel that Allsop is lacking in confidence, it is going to be a big boost for Ryan that his manager is sticking by him, because when the game comes when he is man of the match and makes some great saves it will be all the more pleasurable for both Allsop and the manager.

Ryan Allsop at the King Power stadium.

During the Leicester game Eddie underlined that Allsop had a decent game apart from the second goal that AFCB conceded. Eddie said that it was also "something that is an easy-fix". Perhaps the Leeds sending off was in his mind when Allsop was facing Vardy one-on-one, but more communication and decisiveness is the way forward. Francis seemed angry that Allsop started to come out and left himself stranded, but with Elphick on the pitch next week perhaps the calling will be louder to help the keeper make the right decision. I would go along with the fact that Allsop made some good saves and even more pleasing was the sight of seeing him come for crosses and catch them. He made it look easy at times, so I am not sure why he had not been doing that in his last few performances. But I thought he could have possibly got a hand to Leicester's fist goal which did bounce before him, but was not so out of reach that he had no chance. Perhaps I am being hard on Allsop there because the defenders gave Nuget far too much space, and Cook perhaps unsighted him a bit, but now and again you want your keeper to make a great save or two.Allsop has to believe he is the number one keeper and that no one is going to score past him. If Ryan can build that feeling of invincibility he will perform much better on the field. However, if his distribution can't improve and he becomes too worried about making mistakes then Eddie will have to get another keeper in. I hope it does not come to that and that we can get behind Allsop and get him concentrating and applaud him when he makes a good save or sets up a good attack.

We have seen similar worries with Shwan Jalal when he has been in goal and I expect Shwan is working very hard no to see if he can get a chance of playing in the first team again. If he can push Allsop it will be helping the team. I do fear though if Eddie makes another keeper change in the next couple of games Allsop's confidence would suffer and I hope that Ryan is doing what he can to keep the mental side of his game strong. Conceding goals every week rather than keeping clean sheets is tough on any keeper and seeing the goals against column going up cannot be easy to live with, but Allsop has to believe that he can make a difference and a positive difference at that.

Whether Eddie Howe dips looks to bring in another keeper or not remains to be seen. When I look at the best teams in the division they all have keepers that are well respected and seasoned campaigners. Those options may simply not be available to Eddie Howe in which case we have to give Allsop all the support we can.

It's a big week of training for Ryan Allsop.

Getting his opportunity again is a bonus for Ryan. He has to see it as an opportunity and not a given that he will be in goal. I feel that he could do with a big match where he makes many good saves and helps the team to a good win. Perhaps that will come on Saturday against Bolton Wanderers. Whoever plays in goal we have to back them and give them our full support. It is the hardest position on the field when things have not been going well. There is nowhere to hide so as fans we have to encourage our team and help get the best out of them. UTCIAD!

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About Me

I love watching AFCB with my two sons and you'll see me at Dean Court most home games and some away ones as I am an exile, no longer living in Bournemouth. I have supported the Cherries since the late 1970s, but did not go to my first match until 1981. I am a business to business magazine journalist on an international publication. I have been a journalist since 1992 when I completed my post-graduate diploma in journalism studies at Cardiff University.